


Dog Days of Summer

by monetstcroix



Series: After the End [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, Established Relationship, Everybody Lives, Fluff, M/M, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Remus Lupin Lives, Sirius Black Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29594286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monetstcroix/pseuds/monetstcroix
Summary: Sirius thinks that what he and Remus have together is love, in all its earth-shaking mundanity. If it's not love, he doesn’t know what is, and sod whatever the vague entity of true love is, then. This is what he wants.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: After the End [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2174220
Comments: 2
Kudos: 70





	Dog Days of Summer

Summer slowly breaks over Hogsmeade, an easy lengthening of the days, sunlit warmth spreading through the village, wildflowers blooming in every crack of the cobblestone path leading to Sirius’s bungalow.

Well, it’s his home now, he supposes. His proper home in a way Grimmauld Place or that little flat he’d lived in before Azkaban never was, with room for nothing but the war. Though it doesn’t feel like home in the same way living with James and his parents ever did, every single day brimming with their endless good cheer and boundless warm affection, thinking that they all had a long future as a family stretching out in front of them. But, lying here with Remus on his chest, it feels pretty damn close.

He slides hands under Remus’s shirt and over his back, feeling the bumps of his spine and slightly warm skin, fingers tracing up and down the long jagged scars. Sirius had been there for a few, twenty years ago. He does not know most of them, too many of them.

Remus is wearing one of Sirius’s t-shirts, a worn grey Stones t-shirt soft against the backs of Sirius’s hands. In this way, they’ve been tucking themselves into each other’s lives, fitting into all the dark spaces and making them burn brighter.

“Mm,” Remus says, pushing his nose into Sirius’s neck. “You know, we’re nearly in the dog days of summer. It’s your time.”

Sirius chuckles, wrapping his arms round Remus and squeezing him tight, one hand rubbing circles into Remus’s hip, the other stroking over his upper back. Then he remembers what’s to come before the end of these dog days and his hands stop.

“Hmm?”

“Harry will have a break from training soon, for his birthday.”

“He will,” Remus says, pushing himself up, hands planted on either side of Sirius’s arms, to look Sirius in the face. “What are you thinking, Padfoot?”

Sirius exhales, a long low breath out. He feels unsteady, like he is the dog clambering up a muddy hill in a rainstorm. “Dunno what he’ll think about this. About us.”

Remus nods. There is always gentle understanding to be found in his kind lined brown eyes, especially now. “You know what I think. But you don’t ever have to come out and say it if you don’t want to.”

“No, I do,” Sirius frowns. He cannot imagine not sharing this relationship which has become such an integral part of him, both him and Remus, with his godson. If he’d properly worked this whole being bent out business when he was younger, James would have been the first to know. “I couldn’t tell Prongs…”

“Oh,” Remus says softly. “You know he would have been fine with it. If he had no problem with a queer lycanthrope. With me.”

Even though he has told Sirius that before, hearing the reminder still makes him feel better, a sort of steadying relief. Somehow Remus has worked that out for himself in his usual quiet, observant way even though neither of them have said as much out loud.

Then Remus smiles thinly. “He’d probably have gone out and tried to find you a nice bloke himself.”

“Luckily I have a nice bloke right here.”

“Oh, where is he?” Remus makes a show of glancing around the living room, empty but for the two of them on the lumpy old orange couch and shelves of books and records against the wall—mostly what Remus had accumulated over the past twenty years though Sirius had been making his own additions—along with a worn wooden turntable tucked in the corner.

Sirius chuckles again, murmurs, “you git,” threads a hand through Remus’s hair, and pulls him down into some proper snogging.

* * *

Later that week, Tonks comes by for lunch at the Hog’s Head.

“I remembered to bring my own cup this time!” she tells them, brandishing a lime-green ceramic mug. It’s exactly the same shade as her short spiky hair.

“Even your mum’s cleaning charms couldn’t make a dent in here,” Sirius comments, conjuring a pair of tall glasses for him and Remus. Remus is looking at the stained parchment menu carefully as if he is actually considering it, trying to decide between two different types of swill, but really, in his usual understated way, he’s just trying to give Sirius the chance to figure out how to lead this whole thing. This coming out thing.

It’s impossible to imagine Tonks, of all people, reacting badly. Still, it makes his heart pound in his chest, finally telling someone else about him and Remus, taking what is growing between them outside their home and showing it to the world.

“So how’ve you two been?” Tonks asks once old Abe returns with their drinks.

“Very well, I really enjoy teaching and I’m very happy I can do it regularly now,” Remus starts with a smile, then glances at Sirius, his brows raised slightly in gentle questioning. Sirius swallows, feeling like something’s stuck in his throat that the lukewarm beer is doing nothing to dislodge, and nods. “Although it’s been quite nice having the summer holidays, spending time with Sirius…”

Sirius’s heart is hammering so fast the entire pub’s probably able to hear it. Like any proper Gryffindor, he tells all the fear to sod right off and opens his mouth.

“We’ve been good, yeah,” Sirius says, reaching out a hand over the warped wood tabletop to put it on Remus’s, feeling the scarred skin of his knuckles. Remus turns his hand over easily, without a second or third thought for once in his life, and Sirius threads their fingers together. And there it is, in four words and one movement.

“You two! That’s fantastic!” Tonks beams and even though Sirius had reckoned she’d do exactly that, her reaction still makes him grin madly.

“Thank you,” Remus smiles broadly, genuinely. The tension coiled up in Sirius’s chest releases, replaced with warm joy as a wave of gratitude for these two people, the man he loves and his brilliant cousin, washes over him.

“Now that I’ve shacked up with Moony here, your mum will be after you to find someone,” Sirius says.

“Oh Merlin, don’t remind me,” Tonks sighs theatrically, leaning her head on one hand and squishing her cheek. “You know she’ll want to have Remus over for dinner when you tell her, properly welcome him to the family.”

Sirius nods. “So your mum…”

“Mum’s never had a problem with me fancying girls,” Tonks smiles. “The opposite, really. When I told her I was seeing a girl in fifth year, she just hugged me tight and told me she loved me no matter what. Same with my dad.”

“Good, then,” Sirius says because he hadn’t really expected anything else from Andromeda Tonks, who he thinks would face down Voldemort himself for her kid, but it’s still reassuring to hear the words spoken out loud in Tonks’s cheery matter-of-fact tone.

“You get used to it,” Tonks says. Remus nods, squeezing Sirius’s hand. And then Aberforth comes up and Sirius nearly considers letting go of Remus’s hand but then he holds on tighter, nodding to the barman’s offer of a fresh round of drinks. Here’s the getting used to, then.

* * *

Andromeda owls them later that week to let them know about the garden party that she’s got planned that weekend, a reunion of sorts for the Order. And of course, Harry’s invited too, coming straight from London just in time for the festivities.

“We can tell Harry then,” Remus says once he’s finished with the letter.

“Maybe,” Sirius frowns.

“What are you thinking, Padfoot?” Remus asks, setting down the parchment on the arm of the couch. He shifts closer to Sirius on the couch, putting a hand on his arm. This is another one of the things he loves about Remus—and Sirius doesn’t think he’ll ever finish that list but he’s happy to have the entire roll of parchment stretch the distance between the earth and the stars—how _thoughtful_ he always is, how he always takes an extra minute to check in with Sirius. It’s not something he had ever thought he’d need, but he'd also never thought that he would grow into this man, this unsteady man still half in darkness with only the word of a friend, or Remus who is a friend and so much more, to help him out of the shadows of the past and into the light.

“You’re alright with this? Coming out properly?” Sirius asks, still feeling like he is on somewhat shaky ground. Telling Tonks, another queer person, was one thing but he can easily imagine why Remus would have reservations about telling anyone else.

Remus nods, a thoughtful look on his face. “Honestly, I’m not sure if I would have been a few years ago. But, frankly, after all we’ve been through… We wanted to make a happier world to live in for the ones that came after us. I think this might be part of that.”

“Yeah." 

“And I think I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by good people now,” Remus continues, smiling thinly. “People who won’t have an issue with this. I may be wrong, of course, but…”

“Then they’re bigoted wankers who don’t deserve your time, Moony,” Sirius says firmly, leaning his head on Remus’s shoulder.

“And yours too,” he hears Remus’s laugh, feels his chest shake with a chuckle, before his hand comes up to stroke through Sirius’s hair.

“It’s settled, then. We’re coming right out with it at Andy’s little party,” Sirius says, closing his eyes as he wraps his arms around Remus. It’s so much more than easy to lean into Remus; it is natural. 

* * *

He wakes up just before Remus, as always, and watches him.

Remus is peaceful, eyes shut, brow unfurrowed with worry, breathing steady and slow. Sirius trails a hand up his bared chest, enjoying the feel of Remus’s skin under his fingers, and thanking the heat for prompting Remus’s practice of wearing nothing more than pants to bed. He leans down to kiss Remus’s slightly crooked and entirely wonderful nose, which is rewarded by a slight sleepy snuffle from Remus as he blinks up blearily at Sirius.

“Mmm, whassat?” Remus murmurs then yawns right into Sirius’s face.

“Romantic, mate,” Sirius chuckles, leaning his head on Remus’s chest as one of Remus’s hands comes up to stroke over Sirius’s upper back, pressing gentle fingers to where his neck meets his shoulder, to that spot that always gets a bit tight.

“You know what’s really romantic?” Remus says a few minutes later, his eyes finally cracking open.

“Hmm?”

“That I haven’t kicked you out of bed yet even though you wake me up early nearly every morning.”

Sirius laughs, leaning up to kiss Remus’s nose again. “Not early, it’s nearly ten.”

“Terribly early,” Remus repeats but he is smiling against Sirius’s skin. His other hand drifts downwards over Sirius’s bare back, dipping below his waistband for a nice, firm grope of his arse.

“Mmm,” Sirius murmurs in response, shifting so that they’re properly right against each other, hardness pressing through thin fabric, kindling heat low in his stomach. “Need a wake-up?”

“I think so, yes,” Remus says, pulling him even closer, and his voice has already gone a bit breathy so Sirius sets about bringing him the rest of the way.

That’s another thing about this whole fancying blokes, mostly fancying Remus now—because there are blokes who are generally wonderful in the abstract, but then there is Remus who is dizzyingly incredible in the _everything,_ in the sound of his laughter, his hand brushing against Sirius’s, the way he looks at Sirius as if nothing else in the room matters. It’s little moments like this, not just the shagging bit though that’s quite nice even if they haven’t gone much further than hands and mouths. No, it’s the whole of it, the sleepy mornings in bed together where every touch, every mumble and murmur seem to make Sirius’s heart spin and sway madly on its axis.

Though Remus had not properly told Sirius how long he’d fancied him, only mumbling something vague in his usual Moony way about not really seeing it as an option ‘til Sirius realized he was bent, they’ve both spent too long living in the ashes of the past. Now they are slowly building this brilliant, bright thing between them with sleepy hands down each other’s pants in the mornings and lazy snogs on Sirius’s lumpy old couch in the afternoons and they are doing it _together._

Sirius thinks that what they have is love, in all its earth-shaking mundanity. If that’s not love, he doesn’t know what is, and sod whatever the vague entity of true love is, then. This is what he wants.

* * *

Andromeda’s done up the garden quite nicely, keeping all the elegance of the House of Black and none of the more sordid decorative choices favored by the Blacks, like sticking house-elves’ heads on the walls or plastering a loud screeching portrait of yourself right in the entryway.

Little silver and gold lights wind through the dark willows hanging over them, creating a canopy looking as if the night sky has crashed down right on top of their heads. There is a little bubbling stream winding through the garden bordered by sprays of gently glowing flowers, tiny bursts of yellow light in the dusk. Soft music is playing, a light and airy classical piece. To complete the whole scene, alcohol is flowing quite abundantly. All in all, it’s perfect.

They stand together near the shingled white gazebo just where the stream disappears into the woods behind Andy and Ted’s house, sipping their drinks. Sirius has opted for a smoky glass of ember brandy while Remus has gotten himself a bottle of Ted’s muggle beer.

“Keeping it simple,” Remus had murmured with a smile as he took the bottle from Ted, adding yet another thing to Sirius’s list. He reckons that it’s probably already stretching halfway to his namesake.

Now Remus’s shoulder is touching Sirius’s and even that little touch makes him feel all warm inside. Sirius glances out over the garden, watching the gathering party. Only a few people are here so far. Hestia and Emmeline are near the appetizers table, taking advantage of their early arrival and piling their plates high with food. The table’s practically overflowing with all the dishes Andromeda had come up with. Knowing it was the first place guests would scramble to upon arrival, Sirius had grabbed himself and Remus samosas, ragda pattice, and patras along with some chutney, which is now all floating on plates next to their heads. Remus had smiled broadly when he'd seen Sirius approaching with all their plates like it was the best thing he'd ever seen and well, that had been another one for the list. 

Near them, Ted and Tonks are already eating, cheerfully clinking their beer bottles together in a toast to everyone gathered.

“We don’t clean up so bad for a pair of old canines, do we?” Sirius turns back to Remus. Remus is gorgeous even when his hair is all mussed up from sleep and his face is bearing the imprint of their bedsheets, but that doesn't mean Sirius can't appreciate how handsome he looks tonight, in his forest green shirt that brings out his gold-brown eyes and his neatly pressed trousers that make his arse look quite nice. 

“On your part, yes,” Remus smiles fondly with a shake of his head, still somehow incapable of seeing how bloody handsome he is. Well, Sirius is more than eager to take on the task of proving Remus’s many assets to him which, more often than not, ends with most of their clothes tossed on the floor and their hands and mouths on each other.

“I’ll set about making you properly believe it after this, just you wait.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Remus says with an innocent smile though his cheeks have suddenly gotten quite a bit pinker.

Suddenly, a familiar head of messy hair comes into Sirius’s view at the very edge of the garden, striding towards them.

“Hey Sirius, Remus!” Harry grins, his round glasses glinting in the overhead light.

“Harry!” Sirius greets him with a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you, Harry,” Remus says, giving Harry his own hug.

He’s always glad to see that, glad to see Remus stepping into the role of godfather too though he is slow about it with all his trademark Remus hesitance. Sirius is sure that if James and Lily’d been able to have another kid, they’d have made Remus that one’s godfather. So, well, it seems much more than appropriate to make godfather a shared role now. Before Sirius can get caught up in thinking of what else could’ve happened if James and Lily could’ve had a second child, could have done so many other things, he forces himself to focus on the young man standing in front of them.

Remus’s hand brushes his wrist as if he has caught sight of what Sirius is thinking. It’s an unremarkable touch in nearly every single way except for how it has Sirius’s heart soaring like he’s swooping round the mountains on the back of a hippogriff.

Harry regales them with tales of his Auror training which makes the conversation go on for quite a while especially since both of them are eager to hear every detail about it and Harry is just as eager to share. It’s nice, Sirius thinks. It makes him all warm inside, seeing his godson doing well in something he cares about. A moment later he wonders, not for the first time, if this is what it is like to be a parent. Merlin, if only they could’ve had this properly when Harry was growing up. But now there is time to make it up in some way, somehow.

“So what about you two?” Harry asks once he’s finished telling them about his training stint with old Mad-Eye.

“Well, I’ve been teaching as you know, and that’s been going well. I’m free for the summer though, which is quite nice,” Remus nods to Sirius, indicating that he should continue.

“Mostly I’ve been working at the reserve. Buckbeak’s a dad now, did you know? Hagrid started crying, picked me right up and spun me round when he heard,” Sirius says, to laughter from both Remus and Harry, then ventures a glance in Remus’s direction. He is looking steadily back at Sirius.

“Even found myself someone nice,” Sirius continues.

“Who’s she?” Harry responds easily as if it’s really that simple and easy, just an inevitable thing between a man and woman with no room for anything else. Well, Harry is a smart lad, smart enough to work out that things aren’t always quite so simple. Even then it jars slightly, more than Sirius would have expected, like he’s just outside the frame of a photo of him and he’s got to shove his way back in or else smash the frame out of his way. Still, he’s been out of place since the Sorting Hat shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” over his head. This is nothing new.

With that scarlet and gold courage in mind, Sirius exhales, then reaches out for Remus’s hand. Harry’s eyes widen as he watches their hands join together, meaning unmistakable now.

“Oh… oh!” Harry exclaims, mouth dropping open, nearly making Sirius’s heart stop in his chest. But then Harry grins in the very next moment, face breaking out into a broad smile. Yes, he’s a smart lad, a good one. The best one, Sirius thinks. “I’m really happy for you two,” Harry continues, face earnest, looking between them. “I think it’s brilliant.”

“It is pretty brilliant, isn’t it?” Sirius looks at Remus who smiles broadly, beautifully.

“We’re quite serious, Harry. We wanted you to know,” Remus says.

Harry nods. “Is it alright if I tell Ron and Hermione?”

“Yeah, of course,” Sirius says immediately because he cannot imagine not sharing something like this with James. Remus nods too, as if he has had the same thought.

Over Harry’s head—just barely, he’s nearly as tall as Sirius now—Sirius spots a crowd of ginger heads entering the garden. The Weasleys. Harry turns, waving at Ginny, Ron and Hermione just behind her.

“Go on,” Sirius says, patting Harry’s shoulder.

“We’ll have plenty of time to catch up this week,” Remus affirms, smiling fondly at their godson as he goes over to his friends.

“He’s a good one,” Sirius murmurs. Next to him, Remus makes a noise of agreement, leaning his head on Sirius’s shoulder.

“He really is,” Remus says.

Andromeda comes up then, trailed by a floating tray full of sparkling golden champagne in thin glass flutes. Remus straightens up, but his hand still remains in Sirius's, squeezing it tight. 

“I wanted to see if you wanted any more…” she starts, and then her dark eyes immediately fly to Sirius and Remus’s joined hands. She smiles and Sirius knows that smile very well though he had missed seeing it for more than twelve years, that patented Andromeda Black Tonks smile that says _I know exactly what you_ _’re up to so don't even think about making any nonsense up._ “How long has this been going on?”

“A few months,” Sirius says. “It’s been going well.”

“Quite well,” Remus says.

“You’ll have to come round more often now,” Andromeda says matter-of-factly.

“I think that would be quite nice, Andromeda,” Remus smiles with a squeeze of Sirius’s hand.

“I need someone to talk to when Ted and this one start going on about muggle moto-cycles,” Andromeda says, making them both laugh. And then Tonks and Ted come by, Ted offering them an easy cheerful grin and Tonks winking at them both, and that really completes the whole scene perfectly.

* * *

Full of cheer from the good drink and the fantastic food, Sirius leans back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head.

The party’s flown right by, things moving quickly once the rest of the former Order arrived, easily occupying the evening. Remus is over by the gazebo talking with Kingsley and Hermione about reforming some Ministry regulations, making a real change for the better. Andromeda had the right idea in getting this party together, Sirius thinks. It was a bit of a change to not be gathering for the purposes of stopping a Death Eater attack or plotting how to overthrow Voldemort, but it wasn’t a bad one. Just took some getting used to. 

Sirius had spent a good portion of the evening talking to Fred and George about their plans for their joke shop. He’d told them about some grand plans of the Marauders that had never quite came to fruition back then, but the twins might be able to make some use of them now. It was still a regret of Sirius’s that he hadn’t been there to see their flight from Hogwarts a few years ago.

Then he’d been part of a conversation with Charlie Weasley and Hagrid about possibly having a class on dragons added to the Care of Magical Creatures curriculum next term. Though before Charlie and Hagrid had managed to make much headway in their planning, Minerva had approached them from behind and preemptively put a stop to the practical portion of the class.

“Hey, Sirius,” a familiar voice says from behind him. He straightens up to see Hestia coming around the table, her short black hair tinged slightly golden under the canopy overhead. She’s smiling and her cheeks are pink, likely from the good drink.

“Hello Hestia,” he responds. “How’re you?”

“I’m alright,” she says, dropping into the chair across from him. “Er, I wanted to ask you…”

“You wanted to ask me what?” he says when she doesn’t show a sign of continuing. He’s not daft. It’s obvious what she’s trying to get at, but he’s not going to do all the work for her, not when he’s got enough to do himself. Even though she’s a Ravenclaw, it doesn’t mean she can’t be brave.

“Only I saw you and Remus and I wondered if you might be, er, together,” she says all in a rush.

“We are, yeah. Since March,” Sirius says. It’s only been one night of really properly being _out,_ only actually telling Harry and Andromeda and Ted, but he is surprised at how much more easily the words are already coming out.

“That’s really nice,” Hestia smiles, though she still looks a bit flustered. “I'm glad he's your... er, I think you two really suit each other." 

What she was going to call Remus, he does not know, but he's got some idea of the shape of the word she was stumbling for. He's thought about it quite often, what to call Remus, what they are to each other. There's _boyfriend,_ but that feels like it doesn't quite fit the past thirty years between them, like they're only two blokes that met at a pub. _Partner_ feels much more right, them facing on the world together, but there's something about that other word, _husband,_ that makes his heart swoop madly and his face break out in a wide smile. 

“Yeah, I reckon so,” Sirius says simply. There are some things he wants to keep only between him and Remus for now. But there's still plenty of room in his life for friendship. “So I caught the tail end of your game against the Harpies last week on the wireless. Tell me how you managed to make that save against Griffiths.”

* * *

“Tonight was nice,” Remus says, settling in next to Sirius on the bed.

“Yeah, went brilliantly,” Sirius responds, moving forward to wrap his arms around Remus and pressing his face into the crook of Remus’s neck. It is as natural as breathing.

“I really do like it, you know,” Remus says, gently stroking a hand through Sirius’s hair.

“Hmm?”

“Doing things like this together, being together,” Remus murmurs. “It’s very nice.”

“I love you too,” Sirius says into Remus’s jaw, squeezing him tight because they almost did not have this. Sirius will never forget that, along with how thankful he is to have this thing together now.

Remus laughs, a beautiful burst of sound, then kisses him on the top of his head. Even after all these months, all these snogs, it still makes Sirius's heart soar in his chest like it had the very first time they'd kissed in his kitchen early one Saturday morning in March. “I love you too, Padfoot.”


End file.
